


Eye of the Storm

by Ramblingandpie



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-19 06:22:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22306636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ramblingandpie/pseuds/Ramblingandpie
Summary: Shepard and Samantha are each having a rough day.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Samantha Traynor
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27
Collections: Peeps Prompting Peeps Server Collection





	Eye of the Storm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nickelkeep](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nickelkeep/gifts).



Shepard stood with her hands on her hips, eyebrows furrowed, a scowl plain as day across her face. Negotiations were not going well.

She still wasn’t sure how the small conference room on the Normandy had become the de facto place for all sorts of groups to work out their grudges as she attempted to get cooperation.

“Look,” she said, her stern voice unwavering despite the throbbing in her temple, “It really comes down to this. The Crucible is an enormous project that needs engineers. The front lines could desperately use more technological support. Frankly, it doesn’t matter to me which group goes where as long as everyone is contributing.”

Silence. Then, another round of yelling. The prestige of the front lines. The sacrifice. The honor of working on the Crucible. The mystery of the Crucible. Someone from each group pointing out that they don’t even know if the Crucible will work or if it’s just a big hoax. That one asshole asking who put Shepard in charge anyway. Why did every group seem to have that same asshole? She glared in his direction.

“I didn’t ask for this. No-one asked for the Reapers to come. They’re here anyway.”

Grumbling and discontent. 

The throbbing in her temple was getting stronger, and she felt the cybernetic weave holding that section of skull together heating up. It always did that right before she lost her temper. She wasn’t quite sure if it heated up as a result of her temper or that the added nuisance of the headache put her over the edge.

Just as she opened her mouth, the door opened.

\---

Samantha looked at the screen in front of her. 14 message packets were transmitting. 33 still waited in the queue. She had several screens up and made minor adjustments to the system to ensure maximum efficiency.

Just as one message finished, a high-urgency alert flashed. She waved a hand over it and approved the override. All other transmissions stopped as the urgent alert began downloading. A few minutes later, she pulled it up, read it, and frowned. She restarted the other transmissions. 57 in the queue.

The current packets were quite large and would take a while. She could take a few minutes. Besides, she could hear the voices through the conference room door, even if she couldn’t quite make out what was being said.

“EDI, I’m stepping away. Please let me know if anything flagged urgent comes through.”

“Affirmative,” came the always-sultry response.

\---

“Shepard,” Samantha said curtly. “Urgent transmission just came through.”

“I’m leaving you all here for a few minutes. Try to sort things out. Any fighting gets physical, I have a brig and I’m not afraid to use it.”

“You can’t do that! I’m--”

“I have an airlock, too,” she said, closing the conference door.

She took a deep breath before turning to Samantha. “That urgent message?”

Samantha beckoned Shepard to the elevator and pressed the button for Shepard’s quarters.

“Cloaca-enhancement pills. Honestly. How do they even GET that on the priority servers?” She scowled.

Shepard quirked an eyebrow, and then burst out laughing.

“It’s not funny!” Samantha insisted. But by the time the elevator stopped, she was breathless as well.

They stood in the small, private corridor outside of the elevator.

“Some things never change,” Shepard said. “Reapers coming down on our heads, and we’ve got the Hatfields and the McCoy’s down there. I don’t even know what they’re fighting about. And you’re getting spam messages on the priority server?”

Samantha nodded.

Shepard guffawed.

“What we really need is to not worry about the groups on the ship. We really need to find out who’s hacking the com nets and get them working on the Crucible! I’ll trade these guys for ‘em,” she said, jabbing a thumb in the general direction of the elevator. “Send them to the spam mines.”

Samantha laughed, and felt the tension release from her shoulders. “Thank you,” she said. “I needed that. It’s been a nonstop day.”

Shepard wrapped her arms around Samantha. “Day, week, month…”

“Something like that,” Samantha responded. “I just needed a few minutes to breathe. Figured you could use them, too.”

Shepard nodded. The two stayed there for a few moments, arms draped over each other. 

After what could have been a few seconds or possibly an eternity, Samantha took two deep breaths and let them out with sighs. “Well, I should probably get back to it. Bets on if you have to throw anyone out the airlock?”

“That depends entirely. How impressive is their cloaca?”

It was a miracle that they regained composure before the elevator door opened up, sending them both back into the thick of it.

**Author's Note:**

> Title prompt provided by Nickelkeep of the Peeps Prompting Peeps server!


End file.
